Further education women leaders: why so few? An exploration of white and BME women’s experiences as leaders in the further education sector

Abstract

The Further and Higher Education Act 1992 reconstituted English Further Education colleges as incorporated institutions. This led colleges to restructure their governing bodies and leadership teams, introducing managerialist practices and embedding a marketised culture.
 Despite forming the majority within college workforces, women have long been under-represented within senior leadership and amongst the cohort of principals. This qualitative study gives voice to a mix of white and BME women who offer insights into their experiences as holders of college senior leadership posts. The findings contribute to understandings about women's choice of Further Education as a career and expose the barriers participants faced and the support which sustained them in different phases of their purposeful engagement with leadership transition. The study adds to leadership theory by depicting a summary of responses to these experiences and may interest other researchers in the field of leadership development. Additionally, it may be of value to policy makers and practitioners who seek to promote a more inclusive leadership discourse in the learning and skills sector in a context where a re-launch of national leadership development initiatives is taking place.